SF Debris: Duet

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

The link.

Haven't watched it yet.

[Deepcrush]

Fantastic review for a fantastic episode. I don't know what could be said on top of what was covered in the review. Chuck nailed this one.

[McAvoy]

I never knew it was a bottle show. I always loved the episode though.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

One of the best for DSN... so one of the best for the franchise itself.

[Sonic Glitch]

I never knew it was a bottle show. I always loved the episode though.

And that's how you do a bottle show right!

[Captain Seafort]

I never knew it was a bottle show. I always loved the episode though.

And that's how you do a bottle show right!

Bottle shows tend to be either excellent or utter shite - there's plenty of the latter, but you've also got The Drumhead to go with Duet as the former.

[Graham Kennedy]

I seem to remember Chuck really liked The Drumhead. I never liked it that much... always thought it was a bit implausible that things would ever have gone nearly as far as they did with those hearings.

[Deepcrush]

Really, you can see something like witch trials or false courts ever happening? Miss the whole of human history by chance GK. Because its not a rare thing even now adays.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I gotta agree with Deep, there. Something like that could easily spiral out of control.

[Graham Kennedy]

Really, you can see something like witch trials or false courts ever happening? Miss the whole of human history by chance GK. Because its not a rare thing even now adays.

Well duh, of course they have happened in the past. But they happen as part of a wider context, they don't just pop up out of nowhere. They happen when the population and culture is willing to accept them, when the legal framework in place allows them. Sure we had witch trials once, but can you possibly imagine somebody having a witch trial now? And not some isolated fundamentalist loon in a pretend court, but the actual legal authorities just deciding to have witch trials some day? Or a judge in a murder case who just decided "screw legal process, I declare him guilty! Take him out back and string him up!"

Everything we've ever been told about the Federation shows it as a place where this kind of thing couldn't happen. The episode even tries to accommodate that by making Satie a lone nutter who was reigned in when her activities came to the attention of another Admiral. But to me, it was still too much of a stretch.

[Deepcrush]

Really, so we've never seen a trek ep other then drumhead where the Feds did something? Never seen a ep where we had to question their judgement?

Sounds more like you've fallen into even more ignorance then normal.

[Captain Seafort]

Everything we've ever been told about the Federation shows it as a place where this kind of thing couldn't happen.

Ten years ago I expect most people would have said the same about the US.

[Deepcrush]

While the ideals of the UFP are grand in the extreme. Hope and care that can surpass the pain and suffering of the modern world. The people leading the UFP are still human/living being and are thus imperfect. remember that this is the UFP under constant threat by outside and inside forces. The same UFP where SF crews continue to die by the thousands to defend. Again, the same UFP that founded S31, allowed the CU to commit mass murder without concern and the same UFP that had several times allowed it's civilian population to suffer to attempt a peace it could easily have enforced.

[Mikey]

Indeed, not only is it possible (thought this instance was obviously caricaturish in the interest of being demonstrable in an hour-long episode) but I appreciated the chance to see the chinks in the hippy-dippy, self-proclaimed utopian armor of the idealistic UFP... perhaps even the individual prices paid for the UFP's outlook at large.

[Deepcrush]

Everything we've ever been told about the Federation shows it as a place where this kind of thing couldn't happen. The episode even tries to accommodate that by making Satie a lone nutter who was reigned in when her activities came to the attention of another Admiral. But to me, it was still too much of a stretch.

I missed this when I was responding on my Ipod... but this just runs in rivers of denial and stupidity so it needed a response.

Consider all the times we watched the PD being used at an excuse to avoid a situation. Or when Riker had the powers of Q, or again when Picard/UFP decided to abandon their allies in the Klingon Empire during the "Civil War" that the Romulans were funding. Or the Operations of S31 which involved international murder plots, government control and even genocide which the UFP was happy to go along with.

Everything we've seen about the Federation, at least in the 24th century is that in fact it is rather common. The Federation commonly committed itself to committing the very issues you protest. AND, only when openly FORCED to deal with such matters did they ever even bother to look into the matter. It took a full mutiny for the UFP to stop violating the ToA with the RSE. It took another mutiny for the UFP to face the Baku. Yet another mutiny when Sisko violated the Khitomer Accords. Further another mutiny/rebel build up when the UFP abandoned worlds to the CU which built the Maquis.

The fact is that the UFP commonly commits the very crimes that it protests. Commonly supports the actions they declare themselves above. Lastly, the UFP will most often ignore such issues publicly and the only common means to force the UFP to face the matter relies on mutiny.